Liverpool’s decision to walk away from a move for Rayan Cherki last summer may well go down as one of the club’s biggest ever transfer mistakes.
As the deal to sign Florian Wirtz dragged on, Arne Slot met with Cherki to discuss his potential arrival at Anfield.
Liverpool ultimately got their man, allowing Manchester City to sign the Frenchman for only £34m. Since then, Cherki has gone on to become one of the most eye-catching players of the Premier League season, and was the difference-maker as City thumped Chelsea 3-0 on Sunday.
Are Liverpool in danger of blocking Rio’s pathway with a new signing this summer?
Should they make a new signing after all?
Cherki mistake gets worse with every passing week
This is not a case of being Wirtz against Cherki. Although it is clear that the City man has had a far better season than Liverpool’s No. 7, there remains a feeling that Wirtz will come good.
Instead, Liverpool should have ensured that they had both players in the bag. For such a comparatively low transfer fee, the Reds surely could have used Cherki this season.
With Mohamed Salah and Cody Gakpo terribly out of form and Alexander Isak injured for much of the campaign, the 22-year-old would have been a huge help.
There is obviously a case to be made that Cherki would not look nearly as good as he does for City in this Liverpool team, but he would have provided an injection of invention and creativity at the very least.
READ MORE: Liverpool could be lining up another Rio Ngumoha as they aim to snatch ‘excellent’ talent for free
Pep Guardiola hailed Cherki as ‘an extraordinary talent‘ after he laid on two assists for his team on Sunday, one of them a delightful piece of play to set up another former Reds target, Marc Guehi.
Plenty has been said and written about Liverpool’s failure to land Guehi, but with Slot reportedly going as far as interrupting his holiday to meet Cherki, losing out on such an attainable gem will surely go down as an even bigger fumble in time.
Liverpool looking into Cherki alternative
Ahead of the new summer window, there have even been suggestions that Liverpool could be looking at signing a player in a similar profile to Cherki.
Although they are not identical by any means, reports have claimed that the Reds are in the mix for Morgan Rogers.
Who REALLY got the better deal here? Liverpool or City?
Should we have signed Cherki instead? 😬
Liverpool look poised to switch to a 4-2-2-2 system next season, and a player such as Cherki or Rogers would be ideal as a roving No. 10 alongside Wirtz behind Isak and Ekitike.
If this has always been the plan for Slot, then it feels like he and Richard Hughes made an even worse error in passing up on Cherki.
With the France international drifting left and Wirtz drifting right, it could have been a perfect set-up at Liverpool for years to come.
A player like Rogers arriving could still provide that, but the Reds had a brilliant chance to set themselves up last summer and blew it completely.
Receive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox
